MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

8/31 Cubs lineup

David DeJesus, who was 3-for-4 with two walks on Thursday, gets Friday off in the Cubs’ series opener against the Giants. He’s never faced San Francisco starter Madison Bumgarner, but Joe Mather has. Here’s the lineup:

5 Comments

I can’t say I care if DeJesus remains a Cub or not as he is just a middle of the road, non-impact player wtih spurts of offense BUT….C’mon… he deserves to follow such a great offensive day with an opportunity to CONTINUE a good feeling. I feel bad for DeJesus today and can’t imagine what he is thinking. Unless some physical reason for riding the bench while Joe “Ricky Henderson” lMather leads off. Vitters? He still needs to play so why not? He sucks right now I know but I don’t think Valbuena’s occassional offense is fooling anybody nor his random offense. Next season, If Valbuena gets significant playing time at 3B and DeJesus is counted on for run production then for sure it will be longer than imagined to turn the organization around but hey good things come to those that wait…and wait…and wait…sigh.

Not to worry Mamma, it happens a lot, one makes a comment regarding a player NOT being good enough so to speak and that player surely will do something to surprise. A stolen base today does nothing to make you look foolish. Accidents happen. You are correct regarding Mather. Besides, I don’t think there are any Mather fans out there that take offense. Hard to tell if ibrewer is a fan or just got a kick out of Mather miraculously stealing a base???

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